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Couple accused of threatening kids in Palm Bay

A local couple is accused of threatening a group of children who bullied their child. Police said they went after them with a hammer and a wrench. The man said he thought the children were following his daughter home to beat her up. Dan Billow reports.

A Brevard County couple is accused of threatening a group of children who bullied their child.

Police said they went after them with a hammer and a wrench. The man said he thought the children were following his daughter home to beat her up.

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Just after school let out Monday near Southwest Middle School in Palm Bay, police got a phone call.

"She's walking up and down with a hammer. And the father is apparently outside, too, with a wrench," a caller told a 911 dispatcher.

Matthew Watkins told police his daughter had been followed home by two or three other girls, who intended to beat her up. Police said Watkins and his girlfriend, Kaylee Bender, threatened the girls with a wrench and hammer and might have used them, had bystanders not called 911 to break up the confrontation.

Witnesses told police Bender threw the hammer in some tall grass and that's where they found it.

Police charged Bender and Watkins with aggravated assault and said the conflict among the kids was a three-girl argument over who was best friends with whom.

"The other girl drove in between two girlfriends. It wasn't over a guy. It was over a girl coming between two girlfriends and that's what started the whole thing," said Lt. Mike Bandish with the Palm Bay Police Department.

Police said the adults should have called the school resource officer and principal to settle the affair, rather than use weapons.